From December 2013 to May 2014, the Language Access and Advocacy Program has been proactively identifying areas of improvement at the DC government agencies named under the Language Access Act by meeting and establishing relationships with frontline employees at local nonprofit organizations who serve limited or no-English proficient residents.

The information from the nonprofits, in turn, has helped OLA’s Language Access Program to focus its attention on those agencies that seem to be encountering the most challenges when complying with the expectations of the Language Access Law.

This project is part of an ongoing initiative that the Office on Latino Affairs began in fiscal year 2012 to more proactively collect feedback on how Language Access services are provided to limited and non-English proficient (LEP/NEP) residents by DC government.

The purpose of this project is to identify areas of improvement and develop concrete recommendations for how DC government agencies can serve their non-English speaking clients, from the perspective of nonprofit employees who assist their clients in navigating DC government services on a regular basis.

To read the OLA Language Access Program’s latest report on this project, please see below: